


Waiting for Dragons

by Thundercry



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Break Up, Childhood Memories, Divorce, Family, Gen, Growing Up, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24020512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thundercry/pseuds/Thundercry
Summary: Soren is eleven, and his life is pretty awesome. His mom's the best, his dad's funny, Claudia is a bit of a pest but she's alright, and one day, he's gonna join the crown guard and slay a dragon. He doesn't care much about the order.Everything would be perfect.... if Mom and Dad learned to get along.
Relationships: Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Viren & Viren's Ex-Wife (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Waiting for Dragons

It was “family-picnic-fun-put-a-cricket-in-Claudia’s-hair-day”, as Soren liked to call it. Mom had packed up a basket in the palace kitchens, Soren got to ride up front in the wagon and pretend to drive, Claudia had picked a grassy hill near the river, and Dad had composed several limericks. All were about mourning “the loss of civilization”, getting more flowery the further they got from the castle and deeper into the belly of nature. Like all of Dad’s poems, they were hysterical; Claudia rolled down the hill laughing, got grass stains everywhere. Soren rolled down after her, and they laughed at the bottom, and then watched the clouds, waiting for dragons.

All in all, a successful “family-picnic-fun-put-a-cricket-in-Claudia’s-hair-day”. Except, Soren didn’t get a chance to put a cricket in Claudia’s hair. Though honestly, that part had only been fun when she was a baby. Claudia was nine and wasn’t scared of bugs anymore. She had a whole box full of magic beetles that she hid under her bed (Mom kept setting them loose).

Just to show off how unafraid of crickets she was, Claudia had been knee-deep in the creek looking for worms while Soren showed Mom and Dad the drills the actual real-life Crown Guard had taught him. Then Claudia had found some sort of fire salamander thing, real squishy and slimy, but hot when she let Soren poke it. Dad said they were super-duper rare and Mom told her to put it down before she burned herself. Claudia did get a little singed when she squished it, but Dad healed her up no problem.

But jeez was it gross when she squeezed it. Its eyes bugged out and then yellow-red juice dripped down Claudia’s arm, a gory splatter sizzling into the creek before Dad grabbed a bowl. They used the juices to make their campfire, and Dad was super happy to not have to light it themselves (though Mom said that was the point of making a campfire). They roasted smores, though Soren was there was some magical salamander guts had gotten on his. “What are you, a baby, Soren?” Claudia yawned, showing her uvula. “No,” and his mouth was already full of hot marshmallow. Mom played campfire songs on her lute, Claudia got super sleepy, and Soren showed Dad the drills again, because he hadn’t been paying a lot of attention the first time. Soren still think he missed half of it, but Dad told him to “sit still for five minutes” in that voice, so Soren did. For five minutes. He played with a whistle Mom had made out of grass while Mom worried over Claudia, fast asleep on the ground.

He dreamed about marshmallow men eating the castle walls that night; the fire salamanders tried to burn em, but then the marshmallows cooked the salamanders into smores and-

“She is nine years old, Viren!”

“Yes I know, I was there, nine years ago!”

Soren woke up to yelling.

His and Claudia’s room was next to Mom and Dad’s (cause Dad was High Mage so they had like their own little wing in the castle, which was super sweet, but Claudia didn’t like sleeping alone so Soren STILL had to share a room). The walls were thick, being stone, but never thick enough when Mom and Dad were really mad.

Claudia was still asleep; after she’d cast the enchantment on the fire, even after her pupils had gone back to normal, she’d gotten super drowsy. After falling asleep during smores, she’d slept the whole ride home. She seemed fine, sprawled in bed with a foot in the air, snoring into her pillow.

“What were you doing when you were nine, Viren? I don’t think you were practicing dark magic-”

“It’s late, we had a long day and now you’re taking it out on-”

“We had a picnic, that’s all! The sooner you can stop dragging your feet and willingly spend time with your children-!”

“It’s spending time with my children that seems to be your problem!”

Mom squealed, and Soren could imagine her pacing around the bedroom.

“Be quiet,” Dad hissed. “You’ll wake them up-”

“What if Claudia doesn’t wake up at al-”

“Stop that, she’s fine! It was a perfectly normal reaction, she’s never done a spell that strong-“

“That strong?” Mom sounded scared. Dad groaned. “What other spells has she done, Viren?” Dad said nothing. “Viren, she is-”

“Nine, I know, I know! I get it! And yes, that is a few years younger than I was when I performed a spell of that caliber-”

“I’d say six years younger at least-”

“Claudia is gifted.” Dad’s staff clunked, and he moved closer to Mom. “Talented, a prodigy! I didn’t have half her potential at that age, if we don’t capitalize on it now-”

“Capital! That’s all she is to you!”

Claudia snored super loud, and Soren jumped a little. He hugged his knees, curling up closer to the wall, to hear better.

“Of course not, don’t be stupid. Do you even listen when I talk? This is for Claudia, and her future-”

“This is for you, this is about you having your own little trained monkey!” Dad tried to interrupt, but Mom wasn’t done. “She wants to be a dark mage because you’re a dark mage, you’re her dad, and she loves you more than anything-”

Dad laughed; not happy goofy Dad laugh; his laugh when Mom said something he couldn’t believe. “Are you jealous? Is that what this is all about? You wish you were the favorite parent?”

Mom didn’t say anything back right away, and Soren fluffed his pillow again, ready to wait out the argument as it died. Sometimes they went longer than this, but eventually, Dad would explain things to Mom and she’d realize that he was right (or at the very least, she was wrong) and then the fighting would stop.

Mom didn’t say sorry.

“I’ve had it, Viren. I’m done.” She sounded like she was crying; she did that a lot. But the big, blubbery sobs weren’t coming, like she was trying to hold them in. “I’m leaving in the morning. I’m going back home.”

Dad’s staff clunked and clunked, he was pacing. “Why am I not surprised? The minute things get difficult, you take off with your tail between your legs, hmm? I know it comes naturally to you, but we have children to think about, so you had better shape up and-”

“They’re coming with me.”

Soren held his breath, his pillow tight to his chest now.

“No. They’re not.” Dad’s voice was very quiet, Soren straining to hear. “You are not taking my children.”

“Try and stop me.”

“Well I can stop you, easily, you’re attempting kidnapping. Kidnapping? A crime? Is that your new aspiration, to be a criminal-”

“Shut up! Just shut up! I’m done, I won’t let you keep… messing in my head, somehow making everything my fault-”

“Stealing children isn’t my fault-”

“They’ll be happier away from all of…”

“All of what?” Dad was really angry now, and Soren shrank back from the wall, checking idly on Claudia, still snoring her nostrils out. “What will make them happy about being in the middle of a corn field? You never think ahead, that’s your problem: I’m thinking about the future wellbeing of my children. How is Soren going to achieve his military dreams at your parents? Any army generals grow up around there, hmm?”

“Crown Guard,” Mom whispered. “He wants to be on the Crown. Guard.”

“Here in the Capital he has opportunities for advancement, same for Claudia-”

“I don’t want her learning dark magic!”

“Ah ha! This is all about you, you trying to smother our children-”

“She’s not like you, Viren, she’s young and sweet and… and… innocent!”

Dad scoffed. “Of course she’s innocent, she’s a child.”

“I want her to be a child as long as she can, not sucking the life out of innocent creatures like it were sport. Didn’t you see the look in her eyes? She felt no empathy today for that Xadian lizard. She killed it without hesitation. With relish, it was sadistic. And you congratulated her-”

“It was a salamander, not a lizard, or…” Dad struggled, which meant Mom was really starting to get to him. Only this deep into an argument could she make him lose his words. “It was a salamander.”

“My child killed it for fun.”

But Dad just laughed again. Mom swore at him, and Dad settled himself, reluctantly. “What do you want me to say? No wonder you want to ‘preserve Claudia’s childhood’, you never grew up yourself.”

“I will fight you for the children. I’ll fight against you, and your power, and your influence, the King of Katolis if I must, but so help me Viren-”

Dad took a long, slow breath. “I can fight you and win easily, but I won’t, because unlike you, I don’t want to put Soren and Claudia through the strain.”

They were quiet again, and for a moment, Soren thought that was it; that it would all be over, and they’d go to bed, and everything would be all right in the morning-

“Just spit it out,” Mom droned. “I’m tired.”

“You leave. For however long it takes to cool your head.”

Mom chuckled, a nervous squeak. “I see, you do think I can take them. Makes sense, I’m their mother, and you are so invested in your career-”

“Fine then, a compromise, take one of them!”

Claudia stopped snoring for a moment, and Soren spun about to look at her bed. She shifted in the sheets, pulling her teddy bear under her head as a third pillow, and was out again.

“I- what?” Mom whispered, terrified.

“There are two of us, two of them, it only makes sense. Take Soren, I’m sure he’d love the fresh air and countryside; and it wouldn’t be fair to tear Claudia away from her studies-”

“No!”

Soren buried his head under the pillow, done, so very, very done with this conversation, muttering the legend of Sir Bartholomew (the very-dead-almost-dragon-slayer) under his breath.

“No!” Mom shouted. “We’re not splitting up the children like a tea set! And the whole point is I don’t want you near Claudia-”

“Oh, but abandon Soren in my ‘evil clutches’, that’s all right with you?”

“YOU HYPOCRITE!”

“How? In what world- this is all your idea!”

“No! it’s not! I never suggested splitting the children. They are inseparable, they love each other more than- more than- more than the royal family loves jelly tarts- you evil son of-”

Dad pounded his staff onto the ground, and Mom shut up immediately. He must be giving her that look. “Then why don’t we just go to bed and forget this conversation ever happened.”

Yes. Please. Mom, please say yes. Say sorry. Please. Mom was crying. She got louder, full on sobbing, like Claudia that one time she’d stepped on glass in the courtyard. There had been blood all over her foot, and Mom had screamed and hugged her, and Soren had been too scared (no, surprised, he didn’t get scared) to move a muscle.

But then Dad turned up, ran into the scene like Sir Bartholomew the dragon-slayer. This was before he got his limp, back when he would spar with King Harrow all cool and confident. That’s when Soren first picked up a sword.

Dad had put Claudia onto his lap, pulled a moth from out his pocket, and fixed Claudia’s foot in a jiffy.

He wished Dad could use some stupid moth now to make Mom stop crying.

“Oh, really?” Dad spat. “Very mature, oh yes, fantastic- you’re going to wake up the kids!”

Claudia at last stopped snoring. She blinked tired eyes at him, about to ask “wha”, until she heard it.

“Don’t touch me!” Mom screamed. “I hate you, I hate you! Leave me alone!”

Mom’s light tread ran to the bedroom door, opening it with a heavy strain of hinges. She ran out into the hallway, down to the end of their wing, away from Soren and Claudia’s room.

Dad didn’t clunk after her.

Soren and Claudia didn’t talk about it. They never talked about Mom and Dad fighting, even when they both knew they’d both heard it. Especially when they’d both heard it. The following morning, they talked about all the fun things they’d done at the picnic, Soren filling Claudia in on what she’d slept through, taking her to the lawn to try and show her how to make grass whistles. He’d almost gotten it right by the time a real-life Crown Guard guy turned up looking for them. Soren jumped to his feet, but before he could even salute or bow the Guard told them High Mage Viren was requesting an audience. Fancy talk for “go to Dad’s office”.

“Is this my fault?” Claudia asked in the castle hallway.

“Wha?”

“Am I in trouble? Cause of the… campfire?”  
Soren hadn’t even thought of that. “No, nah, it’  
s not-” Mom had been mad, though. He changed the topic, asking Claudia about the book she’d been lugging around, but didn’t really listen to the answer.

Mom and Dad were waiting in the office, Dad leaning on his desk, Mom staring out the window.

“Soren, Claudia, your mother and I have some… unfortunate news.”

Sometimes, Mommies and Daddies don’t get along, Soren and Claudia learned. They have differences that can’t be resolved. They can’t be together.

Like how Sir Bartholomew really really really wanted to kill that dragon but it still melted his face off. Not that Soren dared to interrupt Dad’s lecture with the valid point, but for some reason, dragon stories was all he could focus on.

“We decided to leave you children with an equitable solution.”

“What’s equiable?” Soren asked reflexively.

Mom answered, “you can stay here with your father, or you could come with me to Nana and Grandpop’s.”

Soren thought that was a very specific word he never wanted to hear again, and so quickly flushed it out of his memory, thinking again about dragons.

Claudia started crying.

Dad shifted forward, but his staff had only taken a half-step by the time Mom reached her. She dropped to her knees and pulled Claudia into a tight tight hug, Claudia gasping and snotting into Mom’s shoulder, Mom shushing and saying a mix of “it’ll be all right” and “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”.

Dad leaned back on his desk, a small, helpless line running between his eyebrows. It was fragile, lost, and very un-Dadlike. 

He noticed Soren staring. Half-smiled, and held out the hand that wasn’t white-knuckled on his staff. Soren flew at him, nearly barreling Dad over as he buried his face into his ribs, doing his best to not cry, not cry, not cry. He was way, way too old to cry.

Dad hugged him with the one arm, the other still steady on his staff. Rubbed Soren’s shoulder. “Soren. Soren?” He took a deep breath, stepped back, Dad gripping his shoulder, keeping him at a half-arm’s length to look him in the eye.

“I know this is an almost impossible decision to make, but unfortunately, these decisions are the price of maturity.”

He set his lip, reminding himself he was mature, he was eleven, he was brave.

“You are my son, Soren, and I… I’m… no matter what happens, know I’ll always be proud of you and love you.”

There was a hand in Soren’s stomach, squeezing and twisting his guts in a this-must-be-how-it-feels-like-when-you-charge-the-dragon way.

“But I also completely understand if you’d prefer to go with your mother, she’s your mother and I can’t pretend to compete with a bond like that. The country will be far less boring, much less political ceremony and-”

“No,” Soren blurted. “No, no way, Dad, I- I wanna stay in the castle. I wanna say with you!”

The sad little line between Dad’s eyebrows vanished, gone with good riddance, and Soren exhaled. “Really?" Soren hugged Dad again, tight, till Dad laughed and choked that, boy, he was getting strong. He shakily let go, stepped back, feeling like he was about to float out of his feet, like he’d done a full day of drills and skipped lunch too.

He only really realized what he’d done when Claudia stared up at him over Mom’s shoulder. Looked between him, Dad, and Mom, over and over, fast and around and she must be getting dizzy from it-

Mom let go of Claudia, eyes narrow on Dad. Then soft at Soren.

“You should stay with your brother, Claudia.” She gently cupped Claudia’s face, smiling at her. “He’s your brother, after all.”

“I-” Claudia gulped. “Mom-”

“It’s all right. You two… you two need each other. Family is… the most important thing in this world Claudia. Do you understand me?”

He wondered if, while he’d slept, Claudia had stuffed marshmallows through his ears and up his nose till everything in his head went goopy and fluffy.

Mom hugged him, and he hadn’t even seen her stand up. “Take care of your sister, Soren. Take care of each other.” Kissed him on the head. “I love you so much.”

She was at the door to the office. Claudia was crying again. Dad pulled her to his side. 

Mom smiled back into the room. “This isn’t goodbye, not a forever goodbye. I’ll be back for you kids soon. Hang tight.”

Mom left the office, and Soren wandered, bumped into Dad, who had one arm on Claudia, the other on his shoulder. Dizzyingly, Soren thought that someone should take their portrait.

Next month, on what was usually “family-picnic-fun-put-a-cricket-in-Claudia’s-hair-day”, Dad sat them all down for just that. Replaced it with the portrait they had with Mom.

Soren and Claudia didn’t talk about picnics again, even though it has been the last day they’d spent time with Mom. Especially since it was the last day they spent time with Mom.

Dad talked about it only once, after the portrait sitting, when he caught Soren on the lawn trying to remember how to make grass whistles. “Sometimes, Soren, adults fall through on what we expect of them. They let us down. It’s not really their fault, it’s just… some are born strong, some are born weak.”

Absolutely done with this conversation, Soren dropped the grass, pretended he’d never been holding it. “Dad, speaking of strong…. Watch-me-do-pushups-count-em!”

Soren counted for himself, flexing all the way up to fifteen before Claudia ran from the castle, skirt pulled to her knees, babbling “Dad oh my goodness you’ll never believe it I figured out how to use that primal stone I destroyed the curtains with a lightning bolt Dad come see!”

“I… that was very impressive, Soren, but… I think we need new curtains.”

Joke lost on Claudia, she dragged Dad back to the castle, almost tripping him up.

Alone on the castle lawn, Soren watched the clouds, ignoring a cricket that jumped over his foot, and waited for a dragon to appear.


End file.
